Taking the World of Accounts to a More Efficient Destination

Human beings are known for a myriad of different things, but more importantly than the rest, they are known for getting better on a consistent basis. This progressive approach, on our part, has already got the world to hit upon some huge milestones, with technology appearing as a major member of the stated group. The reason why technology enjoys such an esteemed stature among people is, by and large, predicated upon its skill-set, which ushered us towards a reality that nobody could have ever imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, if we look up close for a second, it will become clear how the whole runner was also very much inspired from the way we applied those skills across a real world environment. The latter component was, in fact, what gave the creation a spectrum-wide presence, and consequentially, kickstarted a tech revolution. Of course, this revolution then went on to scale up the human experience through some outright unique avenues, but even after achieving such a monumental feat, technology will somehow continue to produce the right goods. The same has grown increasingly evident over the recent past, and assuming one new fintech-themed development shakes out just like we envision, it will only make that trend bigger and better moving forward.

Intuit, the global financial technology platform that makes Intuit QuickBooks, TurboTax, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp, has officially launched a whole new set of innovations at its 10th QuickBooks Connect conference. According to certain reports, the updates begin from QuickBooks Ledger, which is a new and cost-effective product designed exclusively for accountants to help them serve all their clients on one standardized platform. Leveraging advanced automation technology to do the job, the product brings to the fore features like automated bank feeds, bank reconciliation, financial statements, 1099 tracking, and a seamless transition to tax preparation. As for availability, QuickBooks Ledger is fully integrated and accessible through QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA). We referred to QuickBooks Online Accountant, the update further conceived in and around the product an expanded roles and permissions framework.  The relevance for this solution can be understood once you consider how the accounting industry is becoming more and more inclined towards customizable roles and permissions. Hence, owing to the update, users will now have the means to manage what their team can see, including the authority to choose a role that limits access or views to banking, sales, or expense data. Apart from it, accountants can also actively delegate highly sensitive tasks to more experienced employees, such as paying invoices or running payroll to help avoid the risk of mistakes and liability. Next up, we must get into the fact that QBOA users, moving forward, will be able to access a comprehensive chart of accounts templates. This chart is there to save accountants their time by streamlining the creation, customization, and saving in regards to chart of accounts for both new and existing clients. Complimenting the same is an option to build templates from scratch or customize ready-made product-based or service-based business charts of accounts. In case that wasn’t enough, you can also import templates from Microsoft Excel. Making these functionalities all the more valuable is an improved client experience, which users can observe when they connect a new clients. You see, the new update will make it possible for users to add add QuickBooks Payroll and QuickBooks Time. Not just that, soon enough, they will also be able to add QuickBooks Bill Pay and QuickBooks Payments, thus indicating a future where users can better reap the benefits of QuickBooks’ entire ecosystem.

“Accounting professionals are our most valued partner. QuickBooks Connect allows us to foster deeper relationships with them so we can work better together to empower and fuel small business success,” said Jeremy Sulzmann, vice president of the QuickBooks Accountants Segment. “Our 2023 event is doubling down on how AI-driven innovations can help accountants and the small businesses they serve gain insights to make more informed business decisions. Together, we’re unlocking new ways to power prosperity.”

Having discussed the updates made to QuickBooks Online Accountant solution, we now must shed some light on what the development brought for another solution called QuickBooks Online Advanced, a flexible solution with functional add-ons designed to meet the unique needs of businesses as they scale. Already boasting workflow automation, more robust reporting tools, and deep integrations to third-party applications, QuickBooks Online Advanced will provide, similar to QBOA, an expanded brand of role-based access controls. This means business owners can control who can view, create, edit, or delete transactions, and access accounting features like reconciliation, registers, and journal entries. In more immediate future, these business owners will also get an identical control over reports, a control which would let them pick who can view or customize different financial reports, sales reports, receivable reports, payroll reports, and more. Then, there is the all-new fixed asset module that should provide business owners a comprehensive solution for fixed asset accounting. This solution packs together capabilities like a new fixed asset hub, batch fixed asset onboarding, and onboarding from expense and bill transaction forms etc. Given such extensive features, users can expect a high-value but hassle-free process when it comes to adding, tracking, depreciating, disposing, and reporting on fixed assets. Joining it, at launch, is an enhanced approval workflows mechanism, which will help business owners enforce compliance and organizational policies in an automated way. On a deeper level here, we have new estimate approval workflows that are to help businesses get estimates approved before they’re shared with customers. There are also multi-level and multi-condition approval workflows to facilitate route approvals based on a company’s organizational hierarchy and different transaction conditions like amounts, classes, locations, customers, vendors, and more. Furthermore, until transactions are approved, they will not be posted on the general ledger to ensure accurate and complete financials.

Another highlight of this move transpires across the QuickBooks Online Payroll solution, which for starters, now has a cost allocation feature. Basically, the payroll cost allocation capacity will let you split a given employee’s hourly and non-hourly payroll costs into multiple classes, along with associated projects, thus achieving an accurate tracking of labor costs without any extra journal entries. Moving on, Intuit has introduced a payroll item management function where owners can see a consolidated display containing pay types, deductions, and contributions assigned to employees in a filterable table. In case that doesn’t cut it for you, then it might be worth noting how owners can also create a pay item, bulk assign, and edit assignment information for all employees in one single place. Interestingly enough, QuickBooks has even made a point to partner with Allstate Health Solutions and provide QuickBooks Online Payroll customers an enhanced set of insurance options for their employees.

Finally, QuickBooks took this opportunity to renew its 25-year-old ProAdvisor program. The new version of it includes pre-written email campaigns and templates to support client relationship management and QuickBooks product enhancements. It brings new discounts and benefits for full-service accounting firms that also use Intuit’s ProConnect professional tax solutions, and alongside that, it conceives new training on third-party app integrations and Intuit’s ProConnect tax solutions. To enhance the value of the said training, there will also be certification, tier, community, and skills badges in play.